Safety device for high riggers



March 9,1926. 1,576,210

N. NICKSON SAFETY DEVICE FOR HIGH RIGGERS Filed May 23, 1925 IN VENT R,V c o s NICKSON ATTORNEYi Patented Mar. 9, 1926.

uNlrsox srarss anna SAFETY nnvrcn ron rrrerr nitssEnsi" Applicationfiled May 23, 1925. Serial No. 3 2,416.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, NICHOLAS NIGKSON, acitizen of Russia, and a resident of the city of Vancouver, in theProvince of British Columbia, Canada, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Safety Devices for High Riggers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates'to improvements in safety devices for high riggers,the objects of which are to provide means whereby a high rigger in alogging camp or the like, may be safeguarded against falling from a sparpole in the event of a breakage of ordamage to the hoisting line uponwhich he is supported when working above the ground. 7

The invention consists essentially of a safety line permanently securedadjacent the head of the spar tree and a running clamp thereon which isadapted to be fastened to the riggers body by suitable means and whichgrips the safety linein the event of a downward pull being exerted uponit, as will be more fully described in the following specification, inwhich Fig. 1 is a general view showing the application of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the clamp upon the safety line.

In the drawings like characters of refer ence indicate correspondingparts in each figure.

The numeral 1 indicates a spar pole from which a high lead or other line2 extends and which is suitably provided with a guy line 3.

The numeral 4 indicates a winding gear having a plurality of haulingdrums 5 and alight line drum 6 by which the high rigger is hoisted andlowered to or from his work of adjusting or altering any of the headblocks 7 or other gear upon the pole. The numeral 8 indicates a hoistingline leading from the drum 6 of the winding gear, over a sheave 9 at thehead of the pole and down to a chasers seat 10 upon which the highrigger is carried. Suitably secured adjacent the top of the spar pole 1a safety line 11 is secured which extends to the ground and ispreferably weighted as at 12 to keep it taut, or it may be held by handuntil the rigger is raised to an appreciable height and sufiicientweight of line extends below the clamp to serve to hold the upperportion of the line straight. The high rigger is suitably equipped witha belt 13 to which one end of a short line 14 is attached.

The numeral 15 indicates generally a clamp (see Fig. 2) which is formedwith a channel member having side walls 16 and a back or connecting wall17. The ends of the clamp are provided with eyes as at 18 which areadapted to loosely embrace the safety line 11 to maintain the clamp inproper position thereon.

The numeral 19 indicates a lever fulcrumed upon a pin 20 extendingbetween the side walls 16, which lever is provided with a serrated facedcam .21 adjacent the pin and an eye 22 at its outer end. The earn 21 ofthe lever 19 is adapted to bear against the safety rope 11 and to gripit against the connecting wall 17 of the clamp on the downward movementof the lever, and a spring 23 is attached between the cam and the clampside walls to keep the clamp 1n slight bearing contact with the rope sothat-it may slip along the cable with but little resistance when beingdrawn in an upward direction.

Having thus described the several parts of my invention I will nowbriefly explain its use.

The high rigger prior to being hauled up the spar pole connects the line14 of his belt 13 to the outer end of the lever 19 of the clamp so thatas he is raised the clamp is drawn upwardly upon the safety line 11. Inthe event of an accident occurring to any part of the hoisting gear thedownward movement of the high rigger is imparted to the lever 19 throughthe line 14 causing the cam to grip the safety line and transfer theweight of the man from the hoisting line 8 to the safety line 11. p

On descending from the spar pole the clamp 15 is tightly held above thebelt, with the lever slightly depressed so that the rope 11 may runfreely through the clamp, when in the event of a fall occurring theclamp is snatched out of the riggers hand by his weight so that it isfree to operate and grip upon the safety line.

What I claim as my invention is:

A safety device of the character described comprising a Ushaped clampmember a lever having one end pivotally mounted between the sides ofsaid member and formed to present a cam surface cooperating with anopposing portion of the member to clamp an interposed rope passingbetween the :sides of .said melixrber.v a spring secured atone end tosaid member and at the opposite end to the cam portion of the lever andarranged to normally hold the lever out of gripping engagement With therope, a body encirclingbelt amd @a connecting element having oneextremity secured to said belt and the other extremity secured to an eyeformed in the miter end of the lever. I

Dated at Vancouver, B. 0., this l6thday of April, 1925. T

NICHOLAS NIGKSON.

